


Sleight of Hand and Twist of Fate

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 11:19:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2426813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s not going to fix everything but it might mend.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleight of Hand and Twist of Fate

**Author's Note:**

> What could have happened at the end of _Angel Maker_ and made me a very happy girl. The title comes from _With or Without You_ , written by U2.

It felt good to tell them that he was going to drive, to admit that maybe he was not up to flying yet.It didn’t feel good that he wasn’t, just good to say it aloud.He could trust them, they had his back…shouldn’t they know when he wasn’t at his best.If Hotch was going to push it, and he was, better for everyone to know so no one got hurt out there.He spoke with Dave and then turned to walk to his SUV.Turning back, he saw them all piling into the Suburban, Reid looking content his first time in the driver’s seat.

 

“Prentiss?” he called.

  
”Sir?” she stopped getting into the car while slapping Rossi’s hands away from the brownies.

 

“Sir?” Derek mimicked. He loved doing that to her.

 

Emily glared at him before turning her attention back to Hotch.

 

“Grab your bags, and those brownies, we’re taking a ride.”

 

She nodded quietly, taking the square pull suitcase JJ handed her from the trunk.It seemed as hands came out of nowhere, all trying to grab one of Mrs. Dobson’s brownies.Prentiss tried to fend them off but they only left three on the tray.

 

“You guys suck.Have a safe flight.”

 

“There are some good places along I-70 to dump a body if it comes to that.” Derek said from the car.

 

“He’s almost too heavy for me to carry but I will keep that in mind.”

 

Rossi watched her walk away, a frown on his face.With a tagalong passenger Hotch would never take the time off he needed.Well, maybe he would.Dave was smiling again as he thought about waking up to a woman as beautiful as Emily Prentiss was, wearing nothing but a sheet and a smile.If they stayed away too long, the team would be suspicious…the BAU sometimes resembled high school.Still, Hotch probably shouldn’t be alone out on the road with his bad ear and God knows what other injuries he was keeping secret.

 

“Do you have music?” he asked Emily, putting her suitcase in the trunk with his as they watched the team pull off and drive toward the airstrip.

 

“Yes.I have to admit my surprise at being asked to come along.”

 

“Well I figure by the time I am cleared for flight again I would have tortured the whole team with a road trip.”

 

“Right.” her smile was faint.“What happened out there was a little scary.”

 

“For you and me both.”

 

“It was hard.” Emily said.

 

“What?” Hotch cleared his throat.

 

“Not wrapping you up in my arms and protecting you.I'm sorry, I know…”

 

“Don’t apologize, just get in.You don’t mind driving do you?”

 

“And now we get down to the real reason you invited me along.” She took the keys from him.

 

“Derek and Dave drive like maniacs, Reid drives like my mother, and JJ needs to be someplace where there are bathrooms.Plus, I like your face.”

 

“Nice to tack that on at the end, Hotchner.” She climbed into the SUV.

 

“Payback for calling me sir.”

 

“Reflex.”

 

“Mmm hmm.”

 

Emily started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward 

East Easton Road.Hotch grabbed her bag from between them. 

 

“Do you mind?” he asked.

 

“If you rifle through my bag?”

 

“I thought you put it up here because there were CDs in it.”

 

“I put it up there because that’s where a woman puts her bag.”

 

“That’s dangerous.”

 

“Don’t play policeman with me.No one is going to reach in here and steal my bag with two FBI agents in the car.”

 

“I'm not always in the car.” Hotch reasoned.

 

“You made that decision.”

 

Hotch bit down on the words he wanted to say.If they were going to be like this for the next eight to nine hours maybe he should have opted for Reid doing 55 and listening to Alphaville.

 

“Can we make some rules?” he asked instead.

 

“Sure.” Her tone was condescending and Emily was angry with herself.Why did she suddenly feel so defensive?She grabbed a brownie from his lap; chocolate always made her feel better.

 

“We’re going to be nice to each other.We are going to enjoy ourselves.We are not going to rehash the past.We’re going to start all over again.”

 

“What?” she glanced at him before putting her eyes back on the street.

 

“Have you ever seen _Two For the Road_?”

 

Emily grinned despite herself.It was one of her favorite films and he knew that.

 

“I recall her calling him a bastard.” She replied.

 

“And then he kisses her.”

 

“It took them ten years, Hotch.”

 

“Sometimes guys are slow.”

 

“Sometimes women get tired of waiting.”

 

“Sometimes guys get on their knees and beg.”

 

She didn’t say anything else, eating her brownie and letting the silence hang between them.It could really be a nice drive if Emily could calm her heart rate.They definitely needed music.They needed something that would stop them from talking for just a little while.

 

“There are some CDs in my bag.Mixed ones mostly but I do have Carole King’s _Living Room Sessions_ in there.”

 

Hotch knew he would skip that.He pulled the Velcro apart on the small messenger bag and pulled a CD out. 

 

“Its not labeled.” He held it up.

 

“Put it in…surprise me.”

 

He nodded, sliding it into the CD player. _Step inside, walk this way, you and me babe, hey hey_.Hotch looked over at Emily and she was smiling.

 

“So its you.” he said.

 

“What?”

 

“I hear this song randomly in motels and hotels across the country.I thought I had some kind of Def Leppard microchip inserted into my brain when I was sleeping.All along, it was you.”

 

“This is my come down song.”

 

“Come down from what?”

 

“Anything.Sometimes when we are out there and God knows what's going to happen, I just need to let go.This is the ultimate let go song.”

 

“I agree with you.”

 

“Well that calls for a ticker tape parade.”

 

“You're breaking the rules.” He said.

 

“I'm being facetious.We can get on 76 here; we don’t need to drive all the way down.You OK with that?”

 

“You're at the wheel; do it your way.”

 

“I’ll remind you of that when you start to direct from the passenger seat.”

 

“I'm going to be good; I promise.Rossi said I should take this time to get myself together and I think he was right.I just want to look at the road, breathe in, and smell your perfume.He thought it might be good for me to take a day or so off.”

 

“Hmm.” Emily gave a small nod.

 

“The Harbor is nice this time of year.”

 

“Yeah.Hotch…”

 

“You think they don’t already know, or suspect?You think they aren’t talking about it right now?”

 

“I really hope they're not.”

 

“I really hope you'll let go and spend the weekend with me in a very nice hotel room.With room service.Its not going to fix everything but it might mend.”

 

“And then what?Go back to the BAU and don’t break the rules.”

 

Hotch didn’t know how to answer that.He knew from experience, not his own, that love at the office was not a good idea.He also knew that he missed her.He missed her smile, her silly sense of humor, the way he felt when she touched him.He missed falling asleep holding someone, someone who understood and never got angry, never got too angry, when he gave everything to the job.He missed Emily, though he could hardly admit to himself that he had feelings for her.

 

“I was thinking of something different but not at all romantic.”

 

“I'm listening.”

 

“Rules.I know, its ridiculous, but…”

 

“If we come up with them together it could work.A relationship is something two people have Aaron, not something one person controls.”

 

“I know that.”

 

“So we’ll call it the 10 Commandments.I’ll come up with five, you’ll come up with five, and we go from there.”

 

“I think that’s the diplomatic thing to do.I’m also gonna um…I think I should leave an overnight bag or um, something like that maybe, at your place.”

 

“It’ll stop you from having to get up at the crack of dawn to go home and dress for work.Are we going to do this, for real?I will not get my hopes up again.”

 

“My hopes are already up, Emily.”

 

“What about Jack?” she asked.

 

“I think it’s about time you two got to know each other.I think it’s about time for a lot of things.That explosion…”

 

“Hotch, you don’t have to…”

 

“Please,” He put his hand on her arm.“Kate was a good friend of mine and I watched her…” he cleared his throat.“She gave everything for the FBI, and that’s good but there is more.I dedicate so much to my job and I don’t want to change who I am.There’s someone out there who wants me, just me, and what kind of idiot would say no to that.Especially when he wants her too.”

 

“You can be an idiot sometimes.” Emily said.

 

Hotch smirked.He leaned his seat back, closing his eyes as _With or Without You_ came out of the speakers.Drizzle fell on the windshield and this time the silence in the car didn’t seem so heavy.Nothing seemed heavy for the time being.It would be again, and Hotch had a road to climb, professionally and personally.When he got to the top, he wanted Emily Prentiss waiting with open arms.

 

***


End file.
